Used it for years with fsx and p3d, but is it really still needed?  There's really that great an improvement in 2024?

i use it in 2020 where it really improves it.

in 2024 i see cirrus more often with default weather at least that is my impression.

6 hours ago, Sonosusto said:

 

Newsflash: AS does show weather fronts, allows smoothing depiction and does have turbulence in clouds. 

Opinion: It's pretty clear you don't even own active sky. 

 

I used to use it until I realized exactly what @AnkH says – it doesn’t depict distant weather systems. Instead of showing a storm on the horizon for example, you’d gradually find the clouds around you getting worse and worse until suddenly overcast. That’s something the default weather excels at and ultimately if the goal is to avoid weather to begin with it made sense to choose that. Sure the turbulence effects are great but not worth it I thoughts

It’s just the inherent nature of weather injection, tried playing with the settings but didn’t really help. Not for me.

 

 

9 hours ago, Sonosusto said:

 

Newsflash: AS does show weather fronts, allows smoothing depiction and does have turbulence in clouds. 

 

Newsflash: some people even after simming for years still do not really know how a weatherfront is depicted realistically.

Because of this I am still waiting for someone with AS showing me a screenshot from live weather showing 50% of the sky depicted as overcast and the other 50% as almost clear skies. Or any other sky depiction that looks close to a weatherfront. Second example nobody was so far able: I often fly over the Alps. MSFS default weather has no issue to depict e.g. the Areas north of the alps with clear skies and south of the Alps fully overcast. And yes, if you fly over the Alps at 37000ft, you can SEE that the weather on the other side of the mountain ridge is completely different. If you use AS however, and you start in clear sky conditions, you have clear sky till the visual horizon. In the example of the Alps, you get clear skies on both sides of the ridge. Only after flying into the overcast region, it starts to transist and gradually adds more clouds. But then again uniformely till the horizon, means also in the back of you and on the side of the ridge where you should have clear skies.

And your opinion is only true for MSFS, I used AS for every other flightsim iteration since it was first released back in the days. It is perfect for local flights within the same weather system, it is word not allowed if you fly between e.g. vastly different weather systems. 

@AnkH Agreed. I do solely IFR flying, and I have noticed this too. It's quite annoying. Also the cloud morphing is quite noticeble when flying close to them.

36 minutes ago, AnkH said:

Newsflash: some people even after simming for years still do not really know how a weatherfront is depicted realistically.

Because of this I am still waiting for someone with AS showing me a screenshot from live weather showing 50% of the sky depicted as overcast and the other 50% as almost clear skies. Or any other sky depiction that looks close to a weatherfront. Second example nobody was so far able: I often fly over the Alps. MSFS default weather has no issue to depict e.g. the Areas north of the alps with clear skies and south of the Alps fully overcast. And yes, if you fly over the Alps at 37000ft, you can SEE that the weather on the other side of the mountain ridge is completely different. If you use AS however, and you start in clear sky conditions, you have clear sky till the visual horizon. In the example of the Alps, you get clear skies on both sides of the ridge. Only after flying into the overcast region, it starts to transist and gradually adds more clouds. But then again uniformely till the horizon, means also in the back of you and on the side of the ridge where you should have clear skies.

And your opinion is only true for MSFS, I used AS for every other flightsim iteration since it was first released back in the days. It is perfect for local flights within the same weather system, it is word not allowed if you fly between e.g. vastly different weather systems. 

Thats why i will try the passive mode. 

Michael Moe

Nah but thanks. 

Is it just me that every time the weather is getting refreshed and updated, it briefly switches to clear visibility with a different QNH and then reverts back to new loaded live weather? Does anyone else have this problem?

2 hours ago, AnkH said:

Newsflash: some people even after simming for years still do not really know how a weatherfront is depicted realistically

I very much doubt there are many flight simmers who’ve lived their lives without seeing the outside world — which, of course, includes seeing weather fronts.

We all make compromises with our flight sims based on personal priorities. Everyone wants realistic weather depiction, but for some that means being able to see weather building in the distance, while others value turbulence and cloud dynamics more highly.

In my experience, X-Plane 12 depicts weather fronts more convincingly than MSFS. If accurate weather-front depiction is especially important to you, it’s worth giving X-Plane 12 a try. I use both sims, as each surpasses the other in areas I consider important.

Agreed, the weather depiction in XP12 is really fantastic nowadays. 

It is a great app, the only problem I have with it is the weather transitions, it is still too abrupt for my liking.

I didn't buy it at the time because I read that AS turbulence is not compatible with A2A aircraft in MFS, and since I only fly the Comanche, I didn't see any use for it. 

Yeah no need for Active Sky in 2024   

16 minutes ago, JonathanC said:

Yeah no need for Active Sky in 2024   

No need, true, but it has a passive mode where MSFS controls the weather with AS injecting its own effects.

1 hour ago, FPVSteve said:

Agreed, the weather depiction in XP12 is really fantastic nowadays. 

Yes, it has its own issues that some people may not like, but the weather simply can’t be surpassed by MSFS at the moment. I just purchased the Black Square Baron/Bonanza because I really appreciate the fidelity of those aircraft, even though I still find XP12’s weather to be more convincing in many areas. It’s not perfect either, but it captures atmosphere, clouds and turbulence really well.

In the end, it comes down to which details matter most to each of us. There’s no perfect flight sim, but both main platforms bring their own realistic features to the table.

Edited November 2, 2025Nov 2 by MrBitstFlyer